Entertainment

Luxury Tablet Emboldens Your Inner Chef

The next time you pass by fresh strawberries, rhubarb and lemons, you'll know exactly how to whip them up into a delicious dessert — perhaps a decadent cake with strawberry-rhubarb compote.

The $399 QOOQ (pronounced "cook") kitchen tablet, made in France, helps novices and experts alike prepare scrumptious meals at home. You'll want to recreate the mouthwatering dishes you dined on at restaurants and feel inspired by the crisp produce you see at the farmer's market.

There are nearly 1,200 recipes pre-loaded on the 10-inch tablet — organized by seasonality, dish type, ingredients and themes. If you're looking to make something with "rhubarb," simply search your QOOQ for fitting recipes.

Not only will the kitchen tablet teach you how to incorporate the perennial vegetable into pies, cakes and crumbles, there are videos showcasing handy techniques to wash the stalks and store leftovers. Besides being a digital cookbook, the QOOQ is also a food encyclopedia. The "Culinary Guide" details each ingredient's story including fun facts, popular uses and how to buy.

The QOOQ, created by French digital company Unowhy makes it really easy for anyone with special dietary needs — diary-free, gluten-free, high fiber or vegetarian — to find recipes with its intuitive navigation filters. Even if you have a food allergy, the tablet will help you steer clear of certain foods. Recipes can be sorted by name, time to prepare, difficulty, calories and cost.

The sturdy bright red QOOQ is designed to live in the kitchen. You can leave your iPad somewhere safe because QOOQ can endure splashes, spills and shock (accidental clashes with the spatula). The tough device also makes for a chic kitchen counter piece — when idle, it rolls through inspiring food photography.

Like other ordinary tablets, the Wi-Fi-enabled tablet lets you check your email, Facebook, Twitter or surf the web while the water boils. Home cooks can tune into their favorite radio station in the kitchen.

The interactive kitchen tablet's best feature is its step-by-step instructions. From the get-go, each recipe tells you what you need and what everything looks like and includes an itemized list of the kitchen utensils you'll need. We find that extremely helping, living in an urban kitchen with limited supplies.

Recipes are resizable depending on how many people you want to feed. It's easy to prepare a stew for one person or lasagna for an office party. For each dish, QOOQ will prepare a shopping list, offer nutritional facts and suggest wine pairings. In the recipe brief, key nutritional facts include the calories, protein, carbs and fat (watch the numbers reflect your custom servings).

There are key highlights and tips to keep you on track. To make QOOQ's spinach and ricotta ravioli, we knew exactly what type of dough to buy and where to find it in the grocery store.

The QOOQ motivates you by being there each step of the way. Each recipe is extremely easy to follow because everything is laid out for you. The only disadvantage is the tablet's high price especially since users will have to pay extra for some of the recipes they want.

The QOOQ is a great tool to have if you love spending time trying out new recipes. Besides the 1,200 recipes that come with the tablet, there are also 4,000 exclusive recipes from European top chefs including Flocons de Sel's Emmanuel Renaut, recipient of three Michelin stars, and Le Raphael's Michelin-starred chef Armanine Chaignot. Additional recipes are available with a $99 annual premium subscription.

Mashable
is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.